A man who used multiple aliases to commit fraud has been jailed after visiting a bank in Epsom.

Nicolae George Sora, 30, of Hampden Lane, Tottenham, London was sentenced to 18 months in prison for using false identity documents to commit fraud.

He was caught in part thanks to staff at HSBC in Epsom.

Mr Sora’s photograph was recognised by one of the bank’s employees as having warnings against it from an internal memo.

Police arrived to the Epsom branch of the bank shortly after 9.40am on September 23, where he was attempting to open a new account and get a credit card.

The Slovakian passport he was using as he was arrested that has since been determined to be fake.

Overall, Mr Sora made nine fraudulent attempts to open bank accounts and credit cards using suspected false documents at other HSBC UK branches between May and September 2019.

Resulting total losses amounted to £4,559.61, police said.

Mr Sora pleaded guilty at Guildford Crown Court to charges that he conspired to commit fraud by false representation and that he possessed or controlled an identity document that was false.

He was sentenced to a total of 18 months in prison.

Epsom PC James Wheatland, who helped manage the case, described the fraudster's criminality as "complex".

"This was a really complex case. Sora had multiple aliases and owned multiple passports and ID cards from countries including Austria, Lithuania, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Romania, and this was all part of his MO," he said.

"He had committed fraud throughout the South East and was obviously well equipped to continue to do so, had we not stopped him.

"Local bank staff are some of our best allies in identifying when fraud is taking place...Thanks to HSBC UK’s branch staff for their vigilance and quick response," the Epsom PC added.